He Was Always There For Me, And I Didn't Even Know It
by maggalina
Summary: Morfin and Merope's relationship was of a very different sort until she fell in love with Tom. He was always protecting her from their father.


(All Parseltongue in this story is based off this site/parseltongue101/lesson1 [the translator is down] and that is part of why this fic took forever (also read it in a whispery parseltonggue-y all strung together voice and it sounds really cool), that and Merope is a pain in the butt and hard to write.)

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"Vue Nerope e ae ovith?" hissed Morfin to his father knowing Merope would recognize her name even through the Parseltongue even if she could not understand the rest.

"Nerope e ik. Fasi em e snart." croaked out Marvolo.

Merope stood petrified outside the door of the kitchen. Her father had locked it again hoping to force the magic out of her. He wouldn't accept that she was a squib. Instead he provided her with reasons to have to use magic, or else she would be punished. There was one time when she broke a pot and until she fixed it with magic her father was just going to keep a grip on her neck. It was only when Morfin came back with stolen firewhiskey that he forgot about her. He instead moaned about how purebloods are treated nowadays, and how no one respects the line of Salazar Slytherin anymore.

That was when she cleaned up the mess and threw it out the window.

Back to the present however she had to find some way in the kitchen before her father finished talking to Morfin, he wouldn't be able to accidentally and unknowingly save her this time.

"MEROPE!" shouted Marvolo suddenly in English, "I thought I told you to go in the kitchen and make dinner!"

"The door is locked," Merope whispered knowing she would have to face her father's wrath for her insolent words and inability to use magic.

"Sa! Ou ae andi! Ai eine e slove ou. Vorthsless!" The louder Mavolo's voice got the more to the floor Merope retreated. By the time he had finished yelling and had reached a volume that if it were not for silencing charms the Muggles would have been alerted Merope was close enough to the floor to see the individual particle of dust that had settled between the aged and bowed floorboards.

It was just as Marvolo was about to grab her neck that Morfin chose to shout, "Father! That Muggle is passing by the window again!"

Morfin watched as his father ran out the door to scare the Mugge filth away from his land before turning to Merope and whispering, "Run, when he is finished with that Muggle he won't even remember what he was doing before if you get out of the house now. Take the window. Don't come back until tomorrow, he won't notice you're gone. I have firewhiskey."

Merope paused for a moment her mouth slack about to question her brother when she heard her father muttering to himself indicating he was coming back, so she just ran.

She climbed out the window avoiding pieces of different broken pots until she reached the edge of the forest where Little Hangleton officially started yet she could still remain unseen. This was the first time she had been out of the house. She felt something inside of her flourish and it was new and wonderful. It was like she imagined magic would feel if she wasn't a squib. Finally being away from her father she felt happy. She watched as the carriage carrying the handsome Muggle and his girlfriend and wished, wished that it would stop and that he would look at her and take her into his arms and run away with her protecting her from her father.

She was a Squib so she wouldn't have to worrying about him knowing about magic as she had no family to attend their wedding. Morfin maybe...No. No matter what he did to help her he would abandon her at the drop of a ha if she showed any interest in someone who wasn't a pureblood. There was no chance he would show up to a wedding filled with Muggles. She wished that he wasn't as much like their father as he was. She had to put her hope in the differences though. He saved her, knowingly. That meant that he had been purposeful in his timing of when to draw Father away.

For once, Morfin felt like a brother and not a terror. He was actually her older brother for once, someone to take care of her. He was actually always there for her and she was too prejudiced against him to notice. He was there to protect her. It felt nice to be protected.

It was getting darker and it was cold and it was the thought of being protected for once in her life that caused her to create a controlled fire using only her magic. She had magic and she wasn't a squib!

She focused on that warm feeling inside her and tried to do more but memories of her father kept clouding in and her fire almost went out. She would have to settle for the small fire before she could go home.

She curled up in a pile of leaves trying to ignore the crunch that happened every time she moved and then realized that this was actually softer than her own bed at home. If she could stay still it might be her best sleep ever.

"Do ae ou, Nerope? Ai e ou ae bana e beied."

Instantly the fire was out. Not because she wanted to be able to hide but because that warm of magic disappeared at the first hiss and the sound of her name in parseltongue. Her father was coming to find her. These were probably her last minutes on Earth. Was that such a bad thing though? Could there be anything worse beyond? It was probably better off for the whole world if she just didn't live anymore. That was before she heard another voice in parseltongue. She didn't know what it was saying, but it was Morfin. He had once again come to save her.

"Em e athne kapi. Rine fasi girou ha?"

"Sa, fasi em e snart."

"I'm sorry, Merope. This is my fault. I thought he wouldn't notice you were gone."

"Don't be sorry. I did magic, Morfin! You saved me and you gave me hope. You aways save me even when you don't know it."

"I will always be here for you as long as you uphold the family name. As long as you are a good pureblood and never desire after a half-blood, muggle-born or Salazar forbid a Muggle, I will always be here to defend you."

"I promise, Morfin. Having someone I can count on and who just the memory of thm allows me to do magic is more than enough."

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Parseltngue translations

Vue Nerope e ae ovith- Why isn't Merope at the oven?

Nerope e ik. Fasi em e snart -Merope doesn't have a wand (magic). Merope is a Squib (not smart).

"Sa! Ou ae andi! Ai eine e slove ou. Vorthsless!" -Yes, You are dirt! I have no love for you. Worthless!

"Do ae ou, Nerope? Ai e ou ae bana e beied." -Where are you, Merope? I know you be cold and have no bed.

"Em e athne kapi. Rine fasi girou ha?" She no under tree. In that field maybe?

"Sa, fasi em e snart. Yes, she is not smart!

Parseltongue is a very simple language and the grammar formations are different so I tried my best and I'm pretty sure you get the gist of it.


End file.
